Available
by random shuriken
Summary: "No, she's not seeing anyone," Alex said. However, her best friend's supposed "acquaintance" wants more information. MODERN AU.
1. Chapter 1

It was a Thursday afternoon and Alex found herself sitting in a high-end coffee shop that she had never been to before and never would have stumbled across on her own. She wished she had known about this place sooner. Their desserts were divine. And expensive. Good thing she was getting hers for free.

"So is this, like, a bribe?" Alex asked.

"That's entirely up to you," Scam replied. He watched as she demolished the remaining half of her brownie sundae.

"You're just lucky today is my cheat day." Alex took another bite of caramel brownie and was once again transported to chocolate heaven.

Scam glanced at the bag of carrots that lay forgotten on the table. "Fad diets never work. If you add more variety to your meals, you'll get better results."

"Really? How so?"

"You need the correct ratio of protein to carbohydrates. It all depends on your goals as an athlete."

"Goals, huh?" said Alex thinking about her upcoming soccer practice.

"If the goal is more muscle mass, you eat more protein. But if your goal is to be lean and increase your endurance, for example, you should eat a moderate amount of protein and more carbohydrates and vegetables."

"I'm guessing you're the more muscle mass, more protein type." Alex observed.

"Yes, but I'm past the point of needing to follow a diet religiously. I can really eat whatever I want."

"Show off," she muttered.

He grinned and took a sip of his coffee.

"So," Alex said. "Back to you and my best friend…"

"Right. I am very good at reading people, and my first impression of your friend is that she is hardworking, intelligent, and much too focused on her studies to make time for anyone."

"Uh huh. That sounds about right." Alex tried to pay more attention now that she was finished with her sundae. But then she started playing with the silverware. She tapped the spoon against her cheek, then balanced it on her nose as she thought some more, which earned a laugh from Scam. "Why do you want my help anyways? I'd think a guy like you wouldn't have any problems getting dates. Have you talked to her at all?"

"I accidentally bumped into her in the hallway and made her drop her files. I helped her pick them up, but she just said thanks and kept going. She didn't even look at me."

Now it was Alex's turn to laugh as she imagined him looking like a rejected puppy. "Accidentally? _Riiight_. I bet you were all chivalrous and helped her up too. Sam's usually a romantic for that sort of thing." A lightbulb turned on. "Oh! I think I know. That's the same thing that happened with her last boyfriend. He was some British dude from London. He ran into her in the hallway too. She said it was love at first sight."

Scam leaned forward slightly, as if hearing that was a challenge. "So what happened? Is she still seeing him?"

"Definitely not. And that was like eons ago." Alex stopped balancing her spoon and instead starting folding her napkin into a paper airplane. "They had a big fight and he stopped coming around. He turned out to be a freeloading jerk. Clover and I never liked him."

"So she hasn't been in any serious relationships since then."

"She still went on dates sometimes but nothing serious anymore. Now it's like she cut out all distractions. She's taking a ton of classes right now and doing this outside research thing called…" Alex paused to get the words right. "Biomolecular polymorphism."

Scam suddenly was very interested. "That's a very specific term. How did you hear about this?"

"From Sam! Where else? She raved about it for like a month and pulled a lot of all-nighters to get onto the upperclassmen research team. Honestly, she had like a nerd crush on the head scientist even though she's never met him. He has like three bachelor degrees or something." Alex leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially. "Watch out for that guy—you may have some serious competition."

Scam, if anything, seemed more amused.

She paused. "She'd probably kill me if she found out I was telling you all of this."

He leaned back in his chair. "I knew I was right to choose you. Something tells me your blonde friend wouldn't be so open with me."

"Yeah," agreed Alex. "I don't think you'd be able to bribe Clover. Unless you've got, like, a hot younger brother or best friend or something."

"Actually, I do have a friend who's about your age."

"Wait, I lied." Alex suddenly remembered some very important information. "Clover's with Blaine now. They've got a good thing going on."

"What about for you?"

She almost rolled her eyes. "No thanks. I'm tired of people trying to set me up. I get enough of that from my mother."

"Alright, just do me a favor. Don't tell Sam about me or that I was asking about her."

"Okay." Alex would mentally face palm herself later. She was terrible at keeping secrets.

* * *

"Do you need a ride?" he asked as they left the coffee shop.

"Nah. I've got soccer practice and it's only a few blocks away from here. I had better walk off all those brownie calories or I'll be paying for it later."

He shrugged. "Suit yourself." They rounded the corner and a nearby sports car beeped. Alex was surprised when Scam walked around it to the driver's side and opened the door.

"This is your car?" she said incredulously. She cupped her hands around her face as she peered into the passenger window. The inside looked like a modern-day Batmobile. "This has gotta be a rental."

He smirked. "It's mine, but weren't you walking?"

"No way! I call shotgun!" Alex hopped in the passenger seat, determined to press ALL the buttons.

Scam noticed her intentions and blocked the console with his forearm just in time. "Don't touch that."

"Well what about this one?" Alex pointed to another button.

He glanced at it. "Yeah that's fine."

Alex woohoo'd as the roof opened up. "To infinity and beyond!"


	2. Chapter 2

The very next morning, Alex spotted Scam waiting in line at the campus cafe. She waived at him and he smiled at her in return. He looked somewhat out of place amongst the younger college students chatting around him. She was about to go grab a table, then decided against it and headed in his direction.

"Am I gonna start seeing you everywhere now?" she asked jokingly.

"Well, I do work here." Scam turned to someone standing behind him. "Alex, this is Dean. Dean, Alex."

Alex sipped her carrot juice and shook Dean's hand. He was wearing a perfectly fitted dark blue t-shirt. "So you're the friend, huh?"

"You're the girl with the carrots." Dean gave her a knowing smile.

"You told him?" she accused Scam.

"You left a carrot in the passenger seat," he replied as he paid for his coffee. "You want anything?" he asked her.

"No, I'm good." She slurped obviously on her carrot juice.

"Well it was nice seeing you." He gave her a sincere smile. Alex smiled back. "I have to head to the lab," Scam said to Dean.

 _The lab?_ Alex wondered. _What does he even do?_

Scam walked off and she was left with Dean. _Now what?_ She didn't know what to do so she just stood there looking at the menu and chewed on her straw.

"So, carrot girl," Dean said after he had paid.

"Alex is fine." She hoped he would drop it and not have it be a running joke. She was already sick of seeing the stuff in her fridge; she didn't need it invading her social life.

"Okay, Alex. Mind if I sit with you?"

She shrugged. "Sure."

They headed to an empty two-seater table.

Apparently Dean had ordered 6 breakfast sandwiches. He pulled a few out the bag, thought for a moment, then slid one of the packages across the table to her. "Here, try this."

"What is it?"

"One of those egg wraps. Get your protein for the day."

She raised an eyebrow. "Scam told you that too?"

"Told me what?" Dean asked already finishing off half of his own sandwich in two bites.

Alex blinked for a moment, wondering how all guys seemed to eat without really eating. _Seriously, it's like he inhaled it or something._ "Nevermind." She pulled out a notebook and pencil, then took a small bite of the egg wrap. _Hmm, not bad_.

"What are you working on?"

"College Algebra homework," she responded. She frowned at her lined paper, trying to focus. "What I don't get is why they give us thirty problems and then only grade half of them. The way I see it, I'm wasting half my time."

Dean laughed. "The ungraded half is for practice. When's your class?"

"In twenty minutes," she said purposely not panicking. She still had ten and a half problems to go. She glared at the half-finished equation she had been working on last night. Now she couldn't figure out where she'd left off. "Urgh!" she growled and erased it furiously. It was probably wrong anyway.

Dean set aside his bagel. "Mind if I take a look?"

"Be my guest." She pushed the notebook towards him. Dean held out his hand and she gave him the pencil as well. He immediately started writing and didn't stop for the next five minutes. Alex looked on with mild interest and munched on her breakfast.

Finally he pushed the notebook across the table. "You can double check it if you want, but you don't have to," he said with a wink.

 _Pfft. Flirt._ Alex looked down at her notebook and stared at it in disbelief, then amazement. "You're officially my math buddy," she declared. Dean only laughed again. He drained half of his iced coffee in three seconds and then inhaled another sandwich.

"So what year are you in?" she asked curiously.

"Junior."

"Huh, same as my friend Sam. Except she's like in the _second semester_ of junior year." Alex half rolled her eyes. "Now she gets to graduate ahead of us. I don't know _how…"_

"Did she take summer classes?"

"Yeah, every year since we started."

"That's how."

"Oh," said Alex pondering it. Why hadn't she figure that out sooner? Her phone went off, the alarm signaling she had just a few minutes to get to Algebra. "This has been great, but gotta run. Thanks for the sandwich."

Dean stood up and gathered the empty wrappers. "Yeah, no problem. See you around."

Alex was about to walk away when a thought occurred to her. "Hey, what if I get stuck again, y'know with the math? Sam's not always around to help me so I'm like in panic mode all the time."

Dean took out his phone. "Just text me. I'll answer when I can."

They exchanged numbers and parted ways.

* * *

 **A/N:** This started off as a one-shot, but I decided to continue it.


End file.
